Hello, and I hope that you are enjoying your day.  Anyway, I am glad for that Inca Empire pallet cleanser after that not-so-good documentary on the Zulu Wars.  May continues to move on and the school year winds down.  Today’s documentary is going to be about the Great Wall of China.  This documentary has sat on my list for quite some time so now it is time to do it.  The run time for this documentary is 1:07:33. The documentary is called The Great Wall: The Making of China.

This is the story of the Great Wall of China from the air.  It is one of the greatest monuments of the ancient world.  This is the wall that helped create China.  Millions of lives would be lost building the wall.  It ran from the Yellow Sea and through deserts.  Genghis Khan knew about the wall.  It has become an image of modern China.  It took fourteen Chinese dynasties to build the wall.  This is a monument that keeps telling its story.

The Great Wall of China was designed to keep Mongol invaders out of China.  The story begins on the Coast of the Yellow Sea.  It is a place known as Old Dragon’s Head.  This is where the wall has its start.  Japanese pirates would have raided this coastline, so the Ming Dynasty put a stop to that.  The Ming Dynasty was successful at protecting Chinese borders.  The Great Wall went right to this coastline.  This area of the wall was bombed and then eventually rebuilt.

The story talks about Emperor Chin, this was the Emperor that gave the Great Wall its name and started the Great Wall.  He encouraged his subjects to swim in the Yellow Sea to find a drug that would grant immortality.  This drug was never found, although it seems the Great Wall would cement any Emperor’s immortality.  The wall moves west into the Chinese landscape.  It snakes its way through China for 1500 miles and it ends in Jiayuguan.  The distance is equivalent to the distance between Moscow to London.

The Great Wall moves through the interior and climbs into the mountains.  One-third of the wall is missing from a section.  Other sections of the wall were damaged from the war with Japan.  The tour continues north, with an examination of an older section of the wall.  This was a section of the wall that had fallen into disrepair and apart from goat farmers, no one visited the section of this wall.  This was the original Great Wall of China and looks like Hadrian’s Wall.  It was designed to keep the Mongols out.  The scenery in this section was very beautiful.

The story goes back to the main section of the wall.  The wall would not stop the Mongols from invading.  Genghis Khan would eventually conquer China and would rule China for decades.  The Ming Dynasty would take back China and would build more of the Wall.  It is here that tourists visit instead of soldiers.  The Mongols would still attempt to invade China, so there was a furious effort in wall building.  One builder was so slow that he was eventually fired.  However, the sections he built were so well-built that he was posthumously pardoned.

The wall continued to thread its way across the Chinese landscape going up and down mountains.  Many sections of the wall have been rebuilt, mainly for the tourist trade.  The wall attracts millions of tourists of every year.  How did the Wall shape old China?  How does it continue to shape Modern China?  What else does the wall have to say?  To continue to follow the Great Wall’s story watch the rest of the documentary.

It reminds me of the PBS specials of traveling through certain states by air.  Although this approach, telling the story from the air, is very simple, it is very well done.  This was a documentary that did not need any extra bells and whistles to tell the story.  It is a documentary that goes to show that there are more stories to the Great Wall than what you know about.  As far as showing this to a classroom, this is one documentary I would show to a history class.

Good morning, today I want to continue with the two-part series Mao’s Cold War.  This time, this episode explores the relationship between the United States, the Soviet Union, and China.  There have been newly released documents that talk about China’s involvement in the Cold War, which goes to show how our understanding of history changes.  The episode is called China versus the US.  It would probably be more accurate to say China versus the Soviet Union and the United States, just based on the introduction, but I digress. The run time for this episode is 45:04.

After World War II, the Cold War started.  It was the communists versus the capitalists.  Each was looking to dominate the world.  However, China started to rise in power and they oftentimes shifted sides.  At times they were allied with the Soviets and other times they were allied with the United States.  So what was really going on with China in the Cold War?

The story has a false beginning with the Korean War.  It was a battle between the Communists in North Korea and the Capitalists in South Korea.  The North Koreans and the South Koreans were fighting each other and eventually, the United States got involved.  The US Army eventually pushed the North Korean Army back all the way to the Chinese border.  You got the impression that the really begins with the rise of Mao Zedong and he would have risen in the aftermath of World War II.  He would have learned military tactics as a result of not only fighting Japan but also the result of the Chinese Civil War. 

The story goes back to the Korean War.  Mao made the decision to send Chinese Troops into the Korean War.  He did it as a way to flex his muscles as a superpower and he also did it to galvanize the people.  The People’s Republic of China was one year old, but Mao was looking to consolidate his power and to legitimize his rule.  He needed his people to believe in him.  However, he was a man who was nervous.  Song Ling was a young lady who believed in Mao and so she was a nurse during the Korean War.  Soon China would become involved in the Korean War.

One of the first battles between the Americans and the Chinese happened on the Yalu River.  Over three hundred thousand Chinese would converge on this river and they started to infiltrate the border.  The attack caught the UN Forces off guard.  The number of forces that invaded North Korea was so overwhelming it surprised the Americans.  The Chinese continued to press south, and Mao’s son was killed in battle.  Mao would not be deferred and the troops continued to go south towards the 38th Parallel.  For eight months, the US and China fought each other in a prolonged war.  The Chinese were using weapons from World War II and from the Soviet Union.  They were going up against the more modern weapons of the United States.  The Chinese took heavy losses. 

The Korean War continued on, the war was becoming a stalemate with China and the United States swapping victories and losses.  Eventually, the war would have to end, and to learn more about how the Korean War ended watch the rest of the documentary.  How else did China impact the Cold War?  Would they continue their quest to prove themselves a superpower?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out.

As I watched the second episode of this documentary, I thought about how it would be very nice for the documentary to have time stamps on it.  With time stamps, it would be easy to pull out clips and use them for lectures or just to show a short part of the documentary.  It was also very good to see that the filmmakers named the participants in the documentary.  Overall, this was a very good documentary.  The storytelling was very well done and the participants did a good job forwarding the story.  The archival footage was great.  It was a very good introduction to Mao Zedong.  I would show this episode to a history class and would use it for research purposes.

Good morning and April is winding down.  Soon we will be in May and then it will be June and well-earned summer break.  Anyway, I want to do a documentary on something you never really hear about.  Did you know that India and China went to war?  I did not hear that before and so this is a series that will feature the Cold War between India and China.  It looks like this documentary is part of a larger series called Cold War.  This particular series is called Mao’s Cold War: China versus India and it has a run time of 44:09.

Tibet, an area that has always proven to be a sticky situation.  It was the area of the world that would turn allies into foes.  China and India were allies before the start of the conflict.  However, as China rises in prominence and grew more militant, India started to question their relationship.  The issue of Tibetan independence would continue to arise between these two nations.  This question would eventually lead the two nations into war.

In border regions of China and India, something is brewing.  Tensions are rising between two nations: China and India.  Wang Shiyao, a recruit in the People’s Liberation Army talks about what was going on and how the people were eager to sign up.  It was 1959, and the people of Tibet were on the verge of rebellion.  Mao Zedong considered Tibet as part of China and blamed the Tibetan upper class for the rebellion.  Mao tells the international world not to interfere, but India is keeping a close eye on events at their northern border.

India and China were allies, and this alliance was forged after the two nations became independent.  Both nations were the most populous nations in the world.   This friendship between the nations is spearheaded by India’s prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.  Both were nations interested in taking a stand against colonialism and imperialism.  Zhou Znlai was the first foreign minister of China.  He would forge a friendship with Nehru.  However, Mao was suspicious and so cracks started appearing in the Alliance.

Soon a rivalry developed because both China and India saw themselves as leaders of the Eastern World.  There were squabbles over where the borders truly lie as China refused to recognized treaties that defined the borders.  It would come to a head with the issue of Tibet and Tibetan independence.  The people believed that the new laws China implemented had no respect for their traditions.  There were rumors that the Dali Lama was going to be kidnapped and as a result, the people surrounded the Dali Lama’s palace to prevent that from happening.

Mao did not mind the chaos in Tibet, because it would give him an excuse to invade.  He continued to build up the military and would invade Tibet.  China would invade Tibet’s capital and the Rebellion would spread throughout Tibet.  Eventually, the conflict would spill into the disputed borderlands.  Nehru would step up to defend these people which would enrage Mao.  He had been preparing for war and he was going to get it.  Mao would organize a coordinated attack on both disputed borders.

In a matter of days, the Indian Army was defeated and other fortifications were captured.  The Chinese Army was an effective fighting force and it caught the Indian soldiers by surprise.  The army was very effective on the rugged terrain and the troopers had no answer for them.  So would India be forced to the negotiating table?  Would India be able to mount a counter-offensive?  What about the reaction of other countries around the world?  Continue to watch the rest of this documentary to learn more.

It is a documentary that actually names the participants in the documentary, that was great because it helped me spell names right.  The participants in the documentary were also very good and kept the history moving forward. I found the documentary very well done and it was a very interesting subject.  I had never really heard about these border wars between China and India and this documentary did a very good job at giving a background to these wars.  So far, this would be a good documentary to show to a history classroom.

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, depending on when you are reading this and doing your planning.  March is winding down and soon we will be in April.  Anyway, I continue to press on through my documentary review playlist.  Today’s documentary is from the Get Factual YouTube Channel.  It is about the Great Wall of China.  It is called Ancient Super Structures: The Great Wall of China.  It has a run time of 50:01.

The Great Wall of China is one of the largest walls in the world.  It stretches from East to West.  It was designed to keep the enemy out.  However, it is still one of the most enigmatic monuments that was created.  With the latest in technology, historians, experts, and archeologists work to solve the mystery of the Great Wall.  So what can the latest in technology reveal about the Great Wall?  How did the builders build the Great Wall?

Asia is the biggest continent in the World.  It is home to the Great Wall of China and this wall was built in the heart of China.  At the time it was the largest structure built by man.  It was a marvel of the ancient world.  How did the builders do it?  What can the latest in technology show about how the builders built the Great Wall?  It is a feat of engineering that can be seen from outer space.  It crosses over the toughest of terrains.  It crosses deserts and mountains.  It was little more than the length of China.

Today, with the latest in technology investigators could do further research.  There have been new theories that the wall was longer than what was measure.  The results of the scans show that the Great Wall may be longer than what was initially measured.  In fact, the documents hint that the Great Wall was longer than initially thought and there was a specific nickname for the Great Wall in the Chinese language.  They called it the Wall that did not end.  So what is the real length of the Great Wall of China?

In 2007, the Chinese government wanted to learn the real length of the wall.  Experts were contacted and they started to undergo an in-depth study of the wall.  Groups were put together to trek the full length of the wall, looking for potions of the wall that could not be seen.  The Great Wall was also scanned and radared to help with the process.  Again, this goes to show how technology continues to shape our understanding of history and how history changes.

The first results were good, they were so good that the start of the Great Wall was rediscovered.  So a team went off determined to help reassess the length of the Great Wall.  It took time and there were many challenges along the way.  It was complicated work because of the many layers that were involved in building the wall.  Sections were rebuilt over the decades and other sections were expanded.  The experts would have to be careful as they threaded their way along the way.

The efforts of walking along the wall were worth it as new sections were discovered and it was discovered that the Great Wall was made up of several sections.  Instead of being a single line, there are different sections of the wall that were build during different eras.  According to the documentary the Great Wall measures about 21,000 KM.  It would take two years to walk the length of the wall. How did the builders accomplish this feat?  What tools would they have at their disposal?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out.

It was nice to see Peter Ginn again.  I need him, Alex Langlands, and Ruth Goodman to do something together, maybe even another farm series.  I miss their antics and narration.  It is also great to see Colin Richards too, he’s always good to listen too.  I also liked the section on how modern experts are working out the techniques that the Great Builders used to build the wall.  This section goes to show you that you can apply the scientific method to history.  This would be a good documentary to show to both a history as well a technology education class.

Good morning, February has flown by quickly and soon I will be in March.  Well, it will be March tomorrow.  Anyway, I want to continue to explore the unknown world of the oceans with the Drain the Ocean series.  The run time for this episode is 47:22.  The episode is called Mystery of the China Seas.

What secrets do the China Seas hold?  It is home to one of the most contested places on earth.  The shattered remains of one ship lie on the bottom.  It was one of the most powerful and largest battleships ever created.  The biggest wartime maritime disaster is also discovered.  A treasure fleet is revealed.  A network that keeps the world moving is also hidden in the sea.  So what mysteries are revealed in the China Seas by draining the oceans?

The ruins of a battleship lie 140 miles south of Japan.  It is one of a pair of battleships.  The Yamato and Musashi were the two biggest battleships that were ever built. During World War II they were a threat to the American forces.  They are loaded with weapons and would have been the biggest floating forces.  Yamato carries the seal of the Emperor.  Both battleships were a top-secret project, even the commanders did not know how big these ships were.

The Yamato and Musashi made their way to Leyte Gulf.  This battle would go down as the biggest naval fight in history.  Yamato would survive the battle while the Musashi would go down under a torrent of torpedoes and missiles.  The Americans would emerge victorious in Leyte Gulf.  Then their sights are set on Okinawa.  Yamato is sent to intercept the Americans, but in the end is sunk taking 3,000 men with her.  When the wreck was discovered, it was shattered on the ocean floor.  Draining the China Seas reveals one of the biggest wreck sites in the world.  So why did it sink? 

The next wreck is a mystery.  One of the biggest invasion fleets in history mysteriously disappeared.  It had been led by the Mongols.  Kublai Khan ordered the invasion of Japan.  He had been expanding the empire since he took on the Mongol Empire.  He turned his attention to Japan and crafted the biggest invasion fleet.  The Japanese are hopelessly outnumbered and the samurai bravely fight on.  However, suddenly the fleet disappeared which would launch this invasion into the realms of mystery.

One archeologist had dedicated thirty years of his life to learning more about the invasion.  Using the archives and ocean scans he plans to locate the wreck.  The invasion was carefully recorded with images of the ships as well as hand-to-hand combat.  Small artifacts were discovered on the floor of the bay.  These artifacts are tangible proof of the Mongol invasion.  However, a ship is what this archeologist is looking for.

Draining the sea bed reveals shipwrecks and fragments of ships lying everywhere on the ocean floor.  Hundreds of ships have been torn apart on the ocean floor.  Could this have been a sign of the legendary divine intervention that the legends mention?  However, when the wrecks are scanned it reveals that the invasion was doomed from the start.  The ships that Kublai Khan used were used for coastal travel and would easily be swamped in stormy seas.  The ships were also poorly built.  However, the extent seems to defy the poorly built ships.  Another clue emerges from the Tokyo Weather Center.  The scientists there have discovered a weather pattern.  Could this weather explain why the Mongol invasion failed?  To learn more about the weather, continue to watch the rest of this documentary.

Another vast jungle of shipwrecks is discovered off the coast of Vietnam.  It is one of the most dangerous places in the China Sea.  What makes it so dangerous?  What was on board these ships?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

Wow, I never heard about the invasion of Japan by the Mongols, so that is a topic I will have to do some research on.  This was a very interesting about an area you never really talk about in a history class.  This would be a good documentary to show to a history class.

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening depending on when you are reading this.  Today, I am heading to China and watching a documentary on the Hanging Coffins of Sichuan Province.  The run time for this documentary is 52:31 and is called The Mysterious Hanging Coffins of China.

Sichuan Province in China has thousands of ancient wooden coffins hanging off cliff faces in the mountains.  Some experts believe that the coffins were placed thousands of years ago to protect them from animals.  Others believe that it was to put the dead within reach of the gods.  Who placed the dead on the mountains?  Why did they place them?  When did this tradition start?  What happened to the people?  This documentary looks to follow the scientists who want to understand and preserve the coffins.

On the other side of a ravine is where this mystery starts.  They were placed on the cliff face by the Bo people.  How did the Bo people get these coffins on the cliff wall?  Wong How Man is one man looking at the mystery of the hanging coffins.  The Bo people left no written records.  They were massacred.  Did anyone survive the massacre?  Are there survivors of the Bo that live today?

An expedition is planned to look at a spectacular coffin site.  Due to the location and lack of funding, very few researchers have undertaken such an expedition. However, things have changed and now there is a group of researchers who are looking to be the first people to research coffins.  However, the route to the coffins is challenging, especially for climbers with modern-day equipment.  One loose rock could mean the climber’s death.  How did the Bo people manage to climb the coffins carrying a 500-pound coffin?

The expedition abandons this site and goes deeper into the mountains to find an alternative site.  While the scientists look for alternative sites, there is a group of experts recreating a Bo coffin.  They would have been made from one piece of wood which would have made them very heavy to carry.  How could they have heaved that weight up a cliff?  Legends say that Bo waited until the rivers were high enough and they could float them up the cliff.  Other legends say that they could fly.  However, the most likely tools they used included a chisel and rope. 

It can be assumed that the Bo carefully handled and took care of their dead.  It is in this section that there is a recreation of a potential funerary procession.  The participants are clothed in Bo clothing that was found in easily reached coffins.  They would have cared for the dead as if they had just moved on to the next world.  It seemed that there were grave goods discovered that would have helped the dead live their daily lives in the next world.

One researcher hints that the different regions had different methods of getting the coffins up the cliffs.  One method included pegs that could be used as stairs.  These pegs were stabbed into the mountain side and the coffin was brought up.  The other method includes a rope and pulley system that would have allowed Bo to hoist the coffin up the mountain.  There was one village that tested out one theory and it took twelve men three days to do the recreation.  This may explain how some of the coffins were placed on the cliffs, but for the others, there may be a different method used.

In the meantime, the expedition has reached a place where there are easily reachable coffins.  There had been rumors of hanging coffins in this one valley and now the expedition is going to explore this valley.  This expedition group will be the first to go into the caves where the coffins are located.  If these coffins are untouched, they will reveal new insights into the Bo people.  What will this expedition find in this valley?  Will this valley reveal the secrets of the Bo people?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out!

This is a really well-done documentary and the information was really interesting.  I can see the potential to have a part two about these hanging coffins.  This would be something I would show to a science and history classroom.

Today we are going to look at a documentary about a mysterious Chinese civilization: the Shu.  This documentary is called the Lost City at Jinsha.  The run time for this documentary is 49:52.

Sichuan China is home to a mysterious kingdom.  It was found in the Jinsha suburb and was one of the most important finds of the century.  Archeological finds include thousands of graves and their grave goods.  Who were these people?  Why were they left with such fine grave goods?  Why did this civilization disappear?  Agnes Hsu-Tang, director of the China Institute of New York investigates this lost civilization.

The Yellow River was considered the backbone of Chinese civilization.  The Qin Dynasty unified China in 221 BCE.  However, One thousand years before that, the Shang Kings ruled the plain of the Yellow River.  For years it was thought that the Yellow River plains were the center of Chinese civilization.  Discoveries have been made cast questions on this assertion.

These discoveries have been made that hint at a society that thrived at the same time as the Shang and they were locked in mountain valleys.  This culture did not leave any written records behind.  However, their neighbors wrote about them.  They were called the Shu people.  The civilization was found in Jinsha.  Hsu-Tang wants to unravel the mystery of the Shu people.  How did they flourish?  Why did they disappear?

The discovery of the Shu people happened by accident.  There was construction work being done to lay a new road.  All of a sudden workers found evidence of an old civilization.  The police called the archeologists and they headed to the site.  The archeologists were shocked by what they found.  There were thousands of relics on the site.  It was a sensational discovery for the archeologists.  There were jade daggers found, elephant tusks, and other gold objects.  Based on the number of graves, did these construction workers and archeologists stumble upon the Shu sacrificial grounds?  Agnes is surprised at the size of the site.  She has more questions about the site.

There were ten areas discovered including a palace area, a burial area, and a sacrificial zone.  Over 2,000 tombs were discovered however these tombs do not hint at human sacrifice.  Agnes will have to do some further investigation.  She walks through the museum where the Shu artifacts are displayed.  Some statues seem to hint at human sacrifice.  These statues are of people kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs.  What was the message of these statues?  Why were these statues made?

Agnes travels to Anyang, the ancient Shang capital.  It is in Anyang where human sacrifice was a well documentary.  She examines a full chariot that was buried in a tomb with a horse and an occupant.  The Shang dynasty was a slave society, and so when the master died his slaves died with him and were buried with him so they could serve him in the afterlife.  However, does this mean that the Shu people practiced human sacrifice?  The Shang people and the Shu people were in contact with each other, and would this contact lead to an exchange of certain ideas?

Agnes goes back to Jinsha and talks with other experts about her theory that the Shu people would have gotten their ideas about human sacrifice from the Shang.  Find out more about the Shu people and human sacrifice by watching the rest of this episode.

This documentary was way too fast pace to keep up with because I had to keep rewinding to points in the documentary to get the point.  Additionally, it did not have much context to it.  I still do not understand who the Shu people were.  I also did not need a monologue on why she got into archeology.  It left me feeling disjointed at times.  The obsession with human sacrifice was over the top?  I could not believe that the Shu people could be boiled down to people who participated in human sacrifice.  Perhaps Agnes could have talked about what was known about the Shu people up to the point of the discovery of the tombs and other artifacts.  Due to its speed, disjointedness, and obsession with human sacrifice, I will not recommend showing this to a history classroom.

Good morning, we are looking at the Empire of Time series.  Matteo Ricci was the first European allowed to be in the Forbidden City.  He was going to convert the Chinese through science and mathematics to Christianity.  After his death, a second Jesuit priest, Schall von Bell continued his work.  He began drafting a new calendar.  Who would claim the mandate of heaven and rule the empire?  The run time for episode two is 49:09.

The episode opens with the writings of Schall von Bell.  He is writing about his time in China and the Emperor.  In 1644, the Ming Emperor died and Schall von Bell lost everything.  The only thing he had left was his calendar.  His house was surrounded by men, what these men wanted from him he did not know.  He would defend his house and his life.  The rebellion was finally crushed so Schall von Bell could live in peace, at least for the time being.

A new group was on the scene and they were looking to seize power.  This group expelled many residents from their homes.  However, Schall von Bell was looking to get an introduction to the new court by providing the new leaders with a book on Astronomy.  The residents would still have to vacate their homes to house soldiers. In his petition, he told the new rulers that he was an astronomer and that if he was expelled from his home, all his work would be lost.  His work could be of use to the new dynasty. 

Bell’s petition was heard, and he found an ally in the Grand Secretary to the new emperor.  He was allowed to keep his house and he would use the opportunity to revive the Jesuit’s fortunes in China.  A solar eclipse would be his way back into the Imperial Court.  The Emperor eventually gave him permission to participate in the Astronomy Bureau’s work.  Bell’s prediction for the eclipse was put into competition with the other Imperial Astrologists.  An army official was allowed to supervise the contest.  Bell won the contest and showed that the European model for predicting the stars was more accurate.

He would soon be in charge of creating the calendar.  Once the calendar was printed it was sent out to many households in China.  Bell was soon in charge of the Astronomer Bureau.  It gave Bell direct access to his colleagues and was a position of power.  He introduced the western calendar system and worked to improve the civil astronomy system.  He oversaw a major transformation of the bureau, expelling many senior officials and giving examinations.  A number of new converts became members of the Astronomer Bureau.

The Manchus had conquered the Han Chinese.  The Han did not like being conquered.  On top of that, a foreigner was in charge of the Astronomy Bureau implementing new ideas.  The conflict was going to happen.  Bell was clear that his method was right and was keen on implementing the method in the Imperial Court.  He was close to the Manchu Emperor Shunzhi.

Eventually, Bell would ask for a replacement sent to China.  However, the church was undergoing a change that would challenge the Vatican’s beliefs.  What event was taking place during this time?  A further challenge during these times was an outbreak of smallpox in the Forbidden City.  Would bell get his replacement?  Would the Han fight back over the changes Bell was making?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out more.

Wow, the introduction was really disjointed.  I was not clear as to what was happening, and if I could not understand what was happening, how could a student?  The producers should have made it clear that the Emperor had died and that there was a rebellion before a new emperor rose to take his place.  The producers did not make clear who was rebelling and who did the conquering, at least until the middle of the documentary.  Just based on the production value of this documentary this would be one documentary I would skip showing the classroom.  It was way too choppy, the information was presented out of order, and did not have a good flow to it.  Overall, it was a disappointing watch.

Good morning, we are now going to shift gears and learn about China in the documentary series: Empire of Time.  This first episode explores astronomy.  The run time is 48:48. I will admit that I am a little bit skeptical about writing a review about this series, but I will give it a shot.

Matteo Ricci was a Jesuit priest who entered China.  He was the first European to enter China at the end of the 16th Century.  He would look to convert the Emperor and eventually all of China to Catholicism.  He was a man who was trained in geometry and algebra.  He would use his learning to convert the people.  He noted that Astronomy was important to the Chinese.  After him, the Jesuits remained in China for three generations looking to convert the Emperor and eventually all of China. 

During the Ming Dynasty, the Emperor was the center of a vast empire.  He was considered the son of heaven and his power was based on how he mastered heaven and time.  The story begins with the Emperor celebrating and praying at the temple of heaven.  The second scene cuts to a man journeying through China.  He is looking at the stars and admiring the night sky.  He is a Jesuit priest and is about to enter the Forbidden City.

Time had a deep significance to the Chinese people.  They wanted to do things at the right time.  They felt that time should go with the flow of nature.  To establish his legitimacy to rule, the Emperor adopted the term the Son of Heaven.  He was the representative of the people before heaven and vice versa.  He was between Heaven and Earth.  The Emperor had to convince the people that he had a divine mandate to rule.

The Forbidden City leaned to this air.  It was the most important place and like the Polar Star.  The Polar Star was known as the “Star of the Emperor.”  It was here where time was announced.  Eventually, as society developed, there was a need for a more accurate measurement of time.  For generations, people tried to calculate time.  Eventually, two systems of time developed: one that followed the rotation of the earth and the other that followed the rotation of the atom.  Timekeeping was an activity controlled by the state during the Chinese empire.  Astronomers were civil servants.  They were a major part of the Chinese bureaucracy.

There were three departments in this department of astronomy.  One department was in charge of observation.  The second department was responsible for establishing the calendar.  The last department was to change the water out of the water clock.  Time was measured according to the height of the water.  Everything had to be carefully measured and controlled, otherwise, it would show that the Emperor had problems ruling his country.  Punishments were severe for inaccurate information.

At the same time during this 1601 period, Pope Gregory was working to reform the calendar.  This is where the Jesuit Priest Matteo Ricci.  He was trained under a famous Jesuit Priest Christopher Clavius.  He was the man who settled the debate on when to celebrate Easter.  He also institutes mathematics as a separate subject in school.  Matteo Ricci would make his way to China, he was going as a Jesuit Missionary.  He would have traveled from Lisbon, Portugal, and would travel to India before making his way to Macau, China.  He would eventually learn Chinese.  He would meet up with a Jesuit Priest, Father Ruggieri and together they would study.  The wrote the first Chinese-Portuguese dictionary.  He did not go straight to Beijing but would explore the countryside.  He would eventually visit an observatory and what he found in this observatory surprised him.  What did he find in China?  Would he make his way to the Forbidden City?  To learn more about what Matteo Ricci did in China, continue to watch this series.

There were places where I found myself drifting, particularly the long (and I mean long) discussion on time.  It was really slow-moving and disjointed at times.  The recreations were fascinating.  I am not impressed so far.  I hope that it gets better, but I have my doubts.  So far I am leaning that this documentary would not be a good fit for the classroom.

It is the 13th Century and Marco Polo is going to embark on a voyage to China.  However, doubts exist that he made it to China.  The scale of his adventures defies belief and his account becomes a best seller of the Middle Ages.  Is there legitimate proof that Marco Polo was in China?  Even on his death bed, he hinted that he had only told half the story.  Today, historians are looking at the documents to prove that he was there.  Who was the real Marco Polo?

It is 1298, and Genoa and Venice are at war.  Marco Polo, a Venetian Merchant is arrested and ends up in a Genoese jail.  Here he is imprisoned with an author of chivalric romances.  Marco entertains this author with his travel tales.  The author is fascinated by the tales and together they put Marco Polo’s tales in a book.  What if these tales were hearsay?

One historian doubt that Marco Polo made his way past Constantinople.  Here he would have met a variety of merchants who did make their way to China.  These merchants would have told Marco their tales.  Marco would have passed those tales off as his own.  So was Marco Polo a plagiarist?  Other historians disagree with that assessment.  They go even further and turn to the Chinese sources to match what Marco Polo said.  Even back then he was called a braggart as nobody believed him.  Even the house where he lived is called “Braggart’s Court.”

One historian turns to the Venetian archives to see what they have to say about Marco Polo.  Marco Polo was the most famous merchant in Venice.  He was seventeen when he went on his first voyage to eastern Asia.  His father and his uncle had traveled these routes before.  They had gone to Mongolia and met with Kublai Khan.  On one journey, the Kublai Khan had expressed interest in Christianity, so he sent Marco Polo’s father and uncle back to Venice to bring back priests.  To ensure that the pair made it back safely with the priests, they were sent with currier tablets.  These tablets belonged to Kublai Khan and would have ensured safe passage.  These served as ambassadorial passports for the Mongolian Empire.  Did these tablets exist?  Historians turn to the archives to find out.

The first step of the journey back to Mongolia and the court of Kublai Khan was the Holy Land.  Here Marco Polo would meet the newly elected pope.  The pope sent along with two monks and a vial containing a couple of drops of oil that belonged to the lamps that burned at the tomb of Christ.  One historian pokes holes at Marco Polo’s journey pointing out that there was no pope at the time and the Vatican letters.  However, Marco Polo provided the names of the two monks in his story.  The two monks fled, fearing for their lives.  Marco Polo, his uncle, and his father continued to press on.  They traveled over the deserts, on the Silk Road and ran into bandits.

Marco Polo describes the trail he took.  One historian points out the gaps in Marco Polo’s record during this journey.  He does not mention the Great Wall.  It would have been a feature that Marco Polo would have seen.  However contemporary sources at the time also fail to mention the wall as well as maps at the time overlook the wall.  The first appearance of the wall was on a 16th Century map. 

After three years, Marco Polo, his father, and his uncle arrived at the court of Kublai Khan.  He had just declared himself Emperor of China, unifying China once again under one Emperor once again.  It is here, Marco steps back and highlights Kublai Khan.  He talks about how Kublai Khan dressed and the clothing customs in the Imperial Court.

This is a German-produced documentary with English narration.  This was a fascinating watch and tells an excellent story of Marco Polo.  I thoroughly enjoyed the counterpoints to the assertion that Marco Polo did not make his way to China.  At times I felt that particular historian was condescending.  This would be a documentary to show in a history class and it would be a good documentary to show to an English class on how to debate.